In news Sounders fans won’t like to hear, Klinsmann reportedly said he expects Clint Dempsey to join camp on Sunday (see the tweet above). The USMNT captain has missed the past two games for Seattle due to a hamstring injury, and his status has been considered uncertain heading into Saturday’s road game against the Colorado Rapids.

Here is the Klinsmann quote as passed along by Arnold: “I have (spoken with) Sigi a couple of times, and they expect him back on the weekend, and therefore we expect him back in camp on Sunday.”

Dempsey had told reporters after Tuesday’s practice that he was unsure if he’d be called up. Coach Sigi Schmid had this response when asked about it: “Everything has gone well right now in terms of his training. All we’re worried about right now is that.”

As someone who was there, Schmid didn’t seem entirely pleased when the issue was brought up, and I’m sure other MLS coaches will feel the same about losing key players down the stretch run.

Yanks Abroad passed along a Klinsmann quote on the subject: “I see the MLS schedule, but it makes no difference to us, this is World Cup Qualifiers. We will call up who we need to.”

Nothing was passed along about the possible call-ups of Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans, who have also been involved in qualifying this year.

If you remember, Dempsey was asked last month, upon returning from the last round of qualifying, if he knew if he’d return to the national team for the final two games: “I don’t know. I don’t know what the situation is, but I know that we’ve qualified. For me personally, I want to be here as much as possible and try to help this team.”

And this is what Schmid said then: “There is an MLS season going on and teams are competing for playoff spots and so forth. I think Jurgen is a smart-enough coach; he’ll understand that and take that into consideration.”

U.S. Soccer is tentatively set to release the roster on Thursday, according to The Washington Post. (Updated: see above)

Dempsey and any other Sounders called up would likely miss rivalry games Oct. 9 versus Vancouver and Oct. 13 at Portland.